Lots of lawmakers will have their noses in maps Tuesday. That's when a court-appointed panel will release the new boundaries of Minnesota's Congressional and legislative districts. The new lines will likely produce some places where more than one incumbent winds up in the same district.

The five-judge redistricting panel appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court released an outline Thursday. All parties must have their proposed maps to the court next month. The court will then have a hearing on the plans in January.

When Minnesota's political parties were unable to agree on new political boundaries, they went to court ... and now the bills are coming due. Democrats, Republicans, and citizens who joined the lawsuit are seeking reimbursement of $628,000 in legal costs. A panel appointed by the state Supreme Court eventually handled the redistricting.

Many observers speculate a five-judge panel will release the new legislative and congressional district maps next week. The court panel is now responsible for the maps because the GOP-controlled legislature and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton failed to agree on the new maps. Redistricting is required every 10 years to keep nearly the same number of people in each district.

A special court panel will likely have to decide how to redraw the districts because Dayton and Republican legislators probably won't agree on a plan. Every 10 years the state redraws the boundaries to account for population changes in the Census.

Of course, the state's major parties each have their ideas on how the judges should approach the task. Republicans say they should focus on traditional city, county and town lines. Democrats say the panel should give more weight to what they call “communities of interest” -- such as minority populations -- that can sometimes overlap traditional boundaries.

MPR says Hennepin County is putting new rules into effect Monday to prohibit protesters from sleeping on the plaza in downtown Minneapolis, taping signs to county property or leaving personal items unattended.

Some residents are telling a panel that it makes no sense to lump both cities in the same legislative district. The population of the St. Cloud area and the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities have grown much faster than most of other parts of the state in the past decade, which means political districts in the area must be redrawn.